Working thru and bracing myself for disappointment

I've been paying mild attention to the election results today.  Not heavy attention becuase that'll just suck any joy out of my day!  

I'm reminded of when I was a kid and didn't care about politics.  I survived and didn't know the difference!  

I'm trying to adopt an adapted version of that mentality.  I want to keep myself informed so I can make good decisions when I vote.  At the same time I need to keep a grip on reality and despite what the news and social media says, and despite the unfair bias that has become really painfully obvious, I'm not going to get sucked into their vortex of hating my fellow Americans if they don't vote the way I do or be a chicken little, determined that the sky is going to fall if things don't go my way.

The reality is that there will be some changes - I expect my taxes to go back up if Biden ends up as president.  I expect more of a nanny state effect.  I expect some negative impact on my investments so will probably adjust them into lower risk investments.  I'll be honest - I've REALLY enjoyed watching my money grow under Trump!  That may be coming to an end.  

So I'll have to make some  adjustments.  I already pretty much hate being around people because of the current nanny state so I doubt that'll change a lot.  I tend to avoid things that require me to be around people as much as possible and it's NOT because I'm afraid of Covid!  I just hate the masks and the level of stupidity surrounding this (like wear a mask on a plane unless you need to eat, that's ok, just put the mask back on after and we'll all be safe - another moronically stupid example that I recently experienced - heaven forbid that they lose a chance to sell you food while you're in their petri dish tube of a plane!)

I will find my own ways to survive a Biden presidency.  It makes me slightly nauseous to consider it but what choice do I have?  I ain't like some people and skipping the country!  

Unfair bias and suppression of news stories that are unfavorable to the Bidens

 Imagine all of the stories currently floating around out there about Hunter Biden.  Now switch his name with Donald Trump Jr.  Imagine if they were all about a Trump instead of a Biden.

Now tell me there's no bias.

Don't wave your penis in my face!!

I had another thought about the impact of social media on people.  I noticed today that someone had posted a rant against Facebook.  Side note...Facebook now sends me text messages since I've shut off all notifications so I get at least one daily text from FB highlighting something they think I'd be interested in.  Anyway, it didn't make me want to run back to FB to read the post.  I'm still busy enjoying the serenity I'm finding without social media bombarding me with negative messages incessantly!  

I had this thought after getting the text that maybe part of the reason I was feeling crazy and apparently some others do also, is that Social Media gives us a platform that we've never had before.  Now people will read what we write about our beliefs and ideas.  We have a bit of an illusion that we can really make a difference because of this and then some of us are hurt and angry when nothing changes or worse yet, people get pissed off and don't want any more to do with us.  

In reality I think most of us individually have very small impacts on the big picture of our country.  Our impacts are important but we aren't creating laws or passing legislation.  We're electing people to do that for us.  I think our votes are very important because of this!  

When we vote for someone we should be paying attention to them and what they say and do and how they perform their job.  We don't do these things but we put them in a position to do them for us.  If they don't do that, should they get to keep their jobs?  Just because we recognize their name (Psst Mitt Romney - I'm nudging you because I don't think you've been doing the job a lot of people wanted you to do) doesn't mean they should get the job. Do some research and pay attention to the folks who are running and do your best to make an informed decision.  You may end up suffering the embarrassment of a Governor Jesse Ventura (like me) when he seemed pretty alright before election and turned back into a wrestler and conspiracy theorist after. 

We really do need to try to understand what's going on and how our representatives are doing their jobs for us.  Because WE gave them their jobs.  WE DID!  We should not forget that!   President Trump is president because the American people gave him the job.  Same with Obama before him.  They are doing that job by the grace of their constituents.  It's our job to make sure we hold them to the job we "hired" them to do.  This goes for every person we elect into a job.  Stop electing them if they aren't doing the job WE gave them to do!

(oh yeah?)

If we want to have a bigger impact then we need to try to be those people that other people elect.  And if we try to become them, we need to recognize who "hired" us and what our job is.  And then do it!

Anyway, I guess the point of this was the "lie" of Facebook and Instagram, to a lesser extent.  Those are the only 2 I have really bothered with but I know there are more out there.  Social media gives us the illusion of a platform...well maybe not an illusion because it actually is a platform...but has anyone changed their politics because someone went on a rant on social media?  Think about that before you waste your energy and instead put your efforts to where it really matters - your vote.  

If you want to summary - shut the fuck up about your politics.  Most people don't give 2 shits and would prefer that you keep it to yourself.  Trying to remember a quote about religion and it applies to politics too...it's like your penis...it's good that you have it but not so great when you wave it around in other people's face.  Or the meme below that I just found 😁

Side Note:  My hubby just came home and announced that our step son was going to cook supper tonight and that he dropped beer at the grocery store.  He walked out of the office to do his thing and I thought about how good a beer would be so decided to give it a shot.

I hollered "why hasn't anyone brought me a beer yet?"

A little shuffling around and then Ken asks if I'd rather have one of my fluffy drinks - hard lemonade or strawberry so I opted for strawberry and he brought it to me.  

How's that for kind of awesome?  You just yell and they bring you drinks!  Life is good 😏

Facebook is after me!

For the past week I've gotten emails and now, today, text messages from Facebook informing me that people have posted things.  

I shut off notifications on my phone so it's like the version on my computer - silent.  It's weird to see other ways that the program reaches out to me.  Should have expected it since Twitter does that - emails me all the time.  I don't have that app on my phone and don't look at it.  I should probably shut it down since it bores me and I don't go on it and I get tired of clearing all the notification emails the program sends me.  

Anyway, Facebook has noticed I'm gone apparently.  Didn't think they would but when you consider how much they market to you...like I search for something on google to get a price idea and next thing you know it's in my feed...they don't want to lose that revenue.  Maybe there are more like me who are stepping back from the shit show?

Well tough shit.  For now I don't want to deal with the fuckery.  Made up word but you get my point.

This weekend I was pondering if there was a way to start a similar type platform to Facebook that wouldn't allow politics or things like that on it.  Where you could just see family and friends pictures and funny stuff.  But that isn't freedom of speech so probably not.  Tho it's not like there's freedom of speech on Facebook in reality.  They've been shutting down some of the conservative sites I follow lately.  Ken has told me about it since it has pissed him off.  Pisses me off too but not surprising since liberals seem to dominate the media and they want to silence opposition.  

That probably would piss off liberals if they were reading my posts but whatever.  It's the truth.  Any conservative actor out there knows they'd better play the game and keep their politics to themselves if they want to work in the industry and how many liberal leaning news outlets are there vs. conservative?  I rest my case so deal or don't read my blog anymore.  I don't give 2 shits.

Freedom of speech only applies to a certain side of politics on Facebook and other social media options.  I don't feel like I'm missing much except stress, hurt feelings and negative stereotypes being thrown at me. 

I've been happier lately.  I can directly attribute this to the lack of social media in my day to day life.  I'm starting to seriously reconsider how and if I'm interested in utilizing social media in the future.  On the fence but starting to think I may be better off without it or at least an extremely reduced amount of exposure to it and the toxic aspects of it.

Anyway, enough thinking about this. Life is too short.  Psst...Facebook...the longer I'm away the less I miss your shit!

Sometimes smaller is good!

I'm sure most people have heard of the serenity prayer?  

It's a good reminder of how smaller can be good for us.  I know it doesn't say smaller anything but I think it kind of works that way.

Lately I've been thinking a lot about all the things that have been making me crazy.  I found some light with this prayer recently (even tho I'm a heathen this is a good one!) 

I have a client who will NOT get with the program.  They don't follow the rules.  I spend time arguing with them and fixing their errors because they want to do everything themselves.  I've told them repeatedly that I'm here so that they don't have to focus on the accounting and they can focus on growing their business, which they desperately need to do.  It has all fallen on deaf ears.  

They take up enough time with me and my team to be in competition with my franchises who have 275 properties.  They have 45 properties.  We bill by property.  We don't get paid very much for the hours and hours of work my team and I put in on them.

This old prayer popped into my head when I was blowing gaskets again and I realized that I could not change them.  They were going to do what they wanted and nothing I could say was going to change that outcome.  So I surrendered.  I decided that if they want to do their own accounting so very badly, then maybe it's time to broach the subject of training them.  I spoke to their business coach, a coworker of mine who I would hand them off to for part of their training, and finally to my boss.  

All I wanted was to help them learn to bill for themselves so I wouldn't have so much time spent fixing things and catching duplicates - they bill and then send them to us to bill also.  And they add markups to the markups we've already billed.  Sigh.

After discussing with my boss we decided that they were a financial loss for our dept.  We are too overloaded to fight to keep them and they are costing us more trying to manage their shenanigans than we get paid each month.  They are using too many resources time for the small monthly  fee they pay.  So we're going to train them to do it for themselves.

By the end of this year I should have one less monstrous headache to deal with and they get what they want.  All this is because I changed my thinking.  I accepted what I had power over.  I looked at what my job is, which is to help them to the best of my ability, and realized that the best way I could help them was to help them do what they were determined to do even without my help.  I'm letting them go.  And I changed how I'm helping them - instead of fighting against them I'm surrendering and helping them go their own way.  It's better for everyone all around.

So how is this being smaller?  It got me thinking about how I've been so incredibly stressed about politics and the news and Facebook and all that jazz...I realized that I've been fighting against something that is beyond my power to change.  

Politics?  The only thing I can really do is vote, so I will.  I'm also going to once again acknowledge that my opinions don't matter to others about politics.  I'm going to pound that shit into my head!  I won't become a liberal because of anything anyone tells me.  That was a personal evolution based on my personal beliefs about how the world works and what is sustainable and what isn't.  I voted liberal the last time when I voted for Bill Clinton.   

Why would I think that anything I had to say mattered to liberals?  I need to stop fighting that.  Even trying to fight the misinformation is pointless because people won't hear anything they don't want to believe.  I need to remember that I'm small.  I have the power of a vote and I will use it but in the bigger scheme of things, I'm small.  There is comfort in that. 

I don't have to be or do anything about politics except vote and then deal with outcomes as they affect me personally.  It's really out of my hands.  Stressing so hard over it all is just a waste of life and energy.  And you can do more than just vote, you can run or promote something or support something but ultimately you need to remember that you are one tiny piece of a very vast machine in this country and there is a limit to your influence.  

So in some ways I'm becoming smaller, in a good way.  I'm going to work on accepting my limitations and then thrive in the freedom that grants me.  Freedom from some of the rage and fear and pain that I've been feeling.  I can't make anyone else be kinder or more understanding to anyone else.  I can be nicer to others myself.  So that is what I'll do.  

I'm shifting my scope of influence and it feels better.  Scary because wouldn't it be nice if we really did have power to stop people from being terrible?  From hurting each other?  Maybe we just need to focus on the smaller stuff, in our own sphere of influence.  Take care of your loved ones.  Be kinder.  Be small.  Be in your own world and do what you can with what life hands you.

Things like who win elections or if that lump in your breast is cancer or not are not in my power to affect, except in tiny ways.  Like a vote.  And sometimes there is NOTHING you can do except do your best with what life hands you.  

I think that's what I'm going to work on doing.  I'll pay attention to the big picture but my life is much smaller than that and I need to not forget that.  I don't have to worry so hard about all of it...let it go.  Understand the difference between what you can change and the things that you cannot change.  

Small can be good!